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PEOPLE reached out to Vincent Nijman, an anthropology professor who’s part of the Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group at Oxford Brookes University, as well as PhD candidate and wildlife trade researcher Penthai Siriwat — they are the co-authors of the study“Illegal Pet Trade on Social Media as an Emerging Impediment to the Conservation of Asian Otters Species”— to find out more about the connection between wild otter trafficking and social media. Their study, along with further detailed information presented in theTrafficreport, paint a more complete picture of this growing problem.
Siriwat, who is from Thailand, tells PEOPLE that part of her PhD research at Oxford Brookes University has been devoted to monitoring the wildlife trade on social media, specifically in Thailand, over the past two years. “We noted an increase in otters posted for sale,” she says. “Facebook is an incredibly popular social media platform in Thailand, where both legal and illegal wildlife are sold as pets.”
The doctoral student’s coauthor, Professor Nijman, has been researching the wildlife trade of plants and animals, both legal and illegal for 25 years. Nijman tells PEOPLE his focus has been on how to best regulate or curb this trade, as well as keeping an eye out for emerging trades and “novel” species. Says Nijman, “Otters are … very interesting, ecologically important, beautiful animals, especially when seen in the wild, so it is important to study (potential) impediments to their conservation.”
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“Our guess is that mortality levels, especially for the very young otters in trade is high or very high,” Nijman says.
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An updated otter census hasn’t been conducted in Thailand, so the full extent of the trade’s impact on wild populations is unknown. However, Siriwat says that “the unprecedented internet trade has opened up otters to a whole new array of potential consumers who buy on first impulse due to [their] cuteness. When they learn that otters require more work than expected, [are] not fit for normal homes (especially in the city) and are not good pets, they release them or leave them at rescues.”
Nijman agrees: “It is another example of people wanting to have the next new thing.”
While otters aren’t an endangered species yet, their numbers are dwindling as they rise in demand. Most of the trade seems to be domestic at the moment, and technically the animals are protected, but trafficking otters still seems “easily accessible and prevalent.” As Nijman and Siriwat’s study exemplifies, the potential for international trade should not be underestimated. Their research has highlighted inadequacies in enforcement and legislation, which is not “keeping pace with the rapidly shifting nature of the internet in Thailand and throughout the global internet community.”
Currently, otters are not a priority species for law enforcement. From a legal perspective, the researchers say there’s no process in place in Thailand that facilitates cracking down on the internet otter trade. “By the time the legal procedures allow them to track down a seller, most of the time, the transaction has been made. It will require more than just law enforcement to take action to stop this, but also collaboration and committed support from platform operators such as Facebook,” Siriwat tells PEOPLE.
Indeed, theTrafficstudy shows that the commercial exploitation of otters is taking place both domestically and internationally, which is in violation of national laws and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The trafficking of otters from Southeast Asian nations to Japan is of particular concern, as there are various loopholes in laws in to prevent law enforcement from taking action.
For all the above reasons, the situation for otters appears bleak. Law enforcement is difficult to engage, even with iconic species such as tigers, says Nijman. “In the end, a lot of this depends on broad societal support and in most countries, not just in Southeast Asia, [support] is present only at a low level.”
source: people.com
